


get'cha head in the game

by bapaldeul



Category: NU'EST, Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Lots of Nielwink fluff, M/M, One Shot, basketball!jihoon, cheerleader!daniel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-09 00:26:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12265146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bapaldeul/pseuds/bapaldeul
Summary: Ace and upcoming star basketball player of his team, Park Jihoon catches anyone's eye when he's in the court.Rival school's cheerleader Kang Daniel gets curious about Jihoon when he's not in the court.alternate title: Daniel digs basketball!jihoon so much and things get cute. jisung and minhyun are the overprotective parents/friends. (jihoon really isnt sure what they are to him anymore)





	get'cha head in the game

**Author's Note:**

> trying to feed my readers more nielwink fluff because i feel like i break too many hearts with my chaptered fic.
> 
> it's my first time writing a one-shot; full fluff at that.
> 
> anyways, enjoy!

Jihoon knows he’s down to the last thirty seconds of the third quarter of the game. The defenders from the opposing team are closing in on him as he continues to dribble the ball towards his goal. His teammates are doing their best to clear a path for him, and Minhyun is signalling for Jihoon to pass the ball to him. From the corner of his eye, Jihoon spies someone running towards Minhyun and decides to take matters into his own hands.

The goal is more than a three-pointer away, and Jihoon can hear his coach yelling at him to pass the ball towards Sungwoon, who is unguarded at the moment. Jihoon licks his lips and says a prayer before taking in a deep breath as he leaps and the ball leaves his hands.

The buzzer to signal the end of the game sounds at the same time the ball enters the basket, with an almost silent “woosh”. The crowd roars, and Jinyoung runs up to Jihoon and wraps him in a tight hug with Minhyun following close behind.

Jihoon lets out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. He takes off the headband as he’s led by his team to the bench area and feels his sweaty bangs fall into his face. Jihoon spots his coach nodding curtly at him, obviously pissed that Jihoon had decided to ignore his instructions once again but holding himself back from yelling because Jihoon did put their team in the lead again.

“Holy shit man, you scared me back there,” Jinyoung says as he bumps shoulders with Jihoon when he takes a seat to drink some water.

This is what Jihoon lives for. The crowd erupting in cheers as he puts ball after ball into the basket, his teammates congratulating him for the good game play, and seeing his opponents return to their benches dejectedly.

Jihoon smiles deviously. “Do you think coach wants to kill me right now?”

“He would shove a basketball up your ass if he could,” Taehyun offers unhelpfully joins the two on the bench.

Jihoon is To Be One College’s star player. As much as Jihoon would love staying humble about his achievements, he can’t help but swell with pride whenever his coach boasts about his skills on the court to other people.

Jihoon is also the baby of the team.

“Jihoon my baby! You did so well out there!” a familiar coo takes Jihoon’s attention away from the death glares his coach is sending to the group. The loving voice belongs to the unofficial mother of the team – Yoon Jisung. 

Jisung doesn’t hesitate to cup Jihoon’s face in his hands and squish his cheeks like a baby. None of Jihoon’s teammates react to the elder’s overflowing display of affection for Jihoon, they all know how much Jihoon is babied by pretty much everyone in the team.

“Stop,” Jihoon whines as he wriggles out of Jisung’s grip. “People are staring.”

Jisung doesn’t take his hands off Jihoon. “My baby did so amazing. I’m so proud of you!”

Jihoon hears Sungwoon snort and resists the temptation of kicking Sungwoon in the leg. One, they still have the last quarter to play and coach would not let him live if he deliberately injured his teammate. Two, Sungwoon was five years older than he was. 

“Oh look! The cheerleaders are coming out now!” Jinyoung slaps Jihoon’s thigh twice as he points excitedly to the group of girls and guys running out to the court from the opposite side of the hall. Jihoon has seen countless cheerleading teams in his life on the court, and has grown immune to the stunts they pull to draw in cheers from the crowd.

Still, Jihoon is thankful for the appearance of the cheerleaders as Jisung lets go of his cheeks and settles down to watch the short performance.

The cheerleaders start with a cheer for their opposing team and do some basic routines that Jihoon has seen a few hundred times. Jihoon bends down to retie his shoelaces and can’t help but roll his eyes when he sees all his teammates gawking at the cheerleaders like a pack of hungry werewolves. 

With the exception of Guanlin who was his age, Jihoon’s teammates were all at least three years older than him, and they never failed to show their enthusiasm during the cheerleading segment of the game.

“You do realise you’re technically cheering for your opponents’ team, right?” Jihoon tells Jinyoung, who has his eyes fixed on the performance.

Jinyoung finally tears his eyes away from the performance to look at Jihoon, and boy does he look offended. “Cheerleading makes any two opposing teams unite. You should learn to appreciate art the way it is.”

Jihoon sighs as he whispers, “you guys are hopeless” under his breath.

Jihoon feels like vomiting when he sees Minhyun giggling when a guy on the cheerleading team blow a kiss in his direction. Minhyun could be ruthless during the game, but when it came to cute guys he was always more than ready to let his defences fall.

Something on the court catches Jihoon’s eye. Or rather, someone. 

Jihoon notices the other cheerleaders move to the side as a boy with dirty blonde hair steps up to the centre of the stage and begins spinning on his arm. It takes a while for Jihoon to remember the specific word to describe it – B-boying. 

Even after watching countless cheerleaders perform, Jihoon has never seen anyone use b-boying in any choreography. He finds himself getting entranced by the boy’s moves as he manages to spin on his head and do a backflip effortlessly.

The boy’s special performance ends faster than what Jihoon would’ve liked and the team gathers together again for their ending pose and Jihoon unconsciously starts clapping for them as well.

Jihoon’s coach approaches the boys with his usual clipboard in his right hand and a ballpoint pen in his left and starts calling out names of the players that will play in the last quarter of the game, “Alright. For the last quarter, we’ll have Guanlin, Minhyun, Sungwoon, Taehyun and…” 

Jihoon’s coach glares at Jihoon and takes in a deep breath before calling out the last name.

“The team can’t do without me,” Jihoon thinks. However, a thought crosses his mind that his coach is still mad at him for ignoring the instructions from the previous quarter. Jihoon looks at his coach with what he thinks are his “pleading eyes”.

“And Jihoon. Now get out there and warm up,” his coach finally says and walks away.

“Yes!” Jihoon fist pumps the air.

“I won’t let you down, coach,” Jihoon says as he walks past his coach onto the court. He might have been wrong, but Jihoon swore he saw his coach smile right then.

Jihoon follows his teammates onto the court after he puts on his headband again. He fists bumps Jinyoung before jogging out to their team’s side of the court to start warming up before the last quarter.

The cheerleaders were still clearing their props off the court when Jihoon joined his team. Some of the girls smile and giggle when he glances their way and he nods as a humble acknowledgement. Minhyun passes Jihoon the ball after he scores a beautiful three pointer.

Jihoon receives the ball and tries shooting from the side of the court. Surprisingly, he makes the shot and Guanlin shows him a thumbs up.

Jihoon’s attention is stolen when he accidentally makes eye contact with the dirty blonde boy from before, who happens to be leaving the court too. From up close, Jihoon observes that the boy is taller than him, and has broader shoulders as well. He’s also sweating; from the vigorous choreography of the performance, Jihoon figures.

Jihoon suddenly doesn’t know where to place his eyes as the boy approaches him. Again, he merely nods in the direction of the boy. To Jihoon’s surprise, the boy smiles back and even winks at him. Before Jihoon can register what just happened between him and this stranger, the boy walks off the court to join his friends.

“Weird,” Jihoon thinks. Jihoon doesn’t remember the last time he felt butterflies in his stomach before the start of the match.

 

 

 

Daniel’s hands grab the end of the bench tightly as the third quarter of the match is down to the final minute. He doesn’t hear any part of whatever Seongwoo has been yakking into his ear since the start of the match. Daniel’s gaze has only been fixed on one boy and one boy only since the start of the match. 

When the boy stops near where Daniel and his team are resting, he takes note of the boy’s name and jersey number.

His name reads P. Jihoon and Daniel assumes it stands for Park Jihoon. Underneath his name, a large “12” is printed in big block letters. 

Park Jihoon doesn’t just fly across the court like other basketball players Daniel has seen play. 

He soars.

His throws are beautiful and almost perfect, Daniel observes. He makes 9 out of every 10 shots, and even though Daniel is supposed to be cheering for his school, he can’t help but be amazed at the skills Park Jihoon seems to possess. 

“So, number 12 huh?” Seongwoo breaks Daniel’s train of thoughts and Daniel grudgingly turns his attention away from Jihoon and faces his best friend, who has an unidentifiable grin on his face.

“What?” Daniel replies, annoyed.

“You’ve been looking at the boy with the number 12 on his jersey since the start of this game. Could you stop making it any more obvious?” Seongwoo rolls his eyes.

Daniel hates how Seongwoo can read his thoughts and emotions like an open book. Although Seongwoo has assured Daniel many times that he makes his feelings way too obvious, Daniel still wants to believe that he can one day be the mysterious b-boy that he has dreamt to be since he was five.

Daniel wants to reply, but the buzzer sounds to signal the end of the game and he sees the last ball from the opposing team make the goal. From the opposing team rushing over to hug Jihoon, Daniel guesses that Jihoon must have put that ball in, helping his team take the lead again.

Daniel can’t help but clap, and smiles embarrassingly when his teammates shoot him dirty looks.

“Why don’t you just pledge your allegiance to their team, then,” Seongwoo snaps as he starts stretching to warm up for their performance.

Daniel follows Seongwoo, he has learnt the consequences of not stretching well before a performance the hard way before and grimaces at the memory of breaking his wrist during a competition two years back.

Daniel lets his gaze trail to the other team’s rest area and sees Jihoon taking off his headband and his sweaty bangs falling to his face as he starts chatting with his teammates. With his hair down, Jihoon looks less intimidating. Daniel doesn’t know much about basketball, but he wouldn’t want to be facing off with Jihoon on the court, not with those eyes that blaze with fire when he tries to steal the ball from his opponent.

Daniel joins his team again for a group cheer before they start their performance and walk towards the centre of the court. He fists bumps Jiwoo, his partner for most of the performance as he takes his place at the back. 

Someone comes up to Jihoon and squishes his cheeks as Daniel waits for the music to start playing. It’s cute seeing how flustered Jihoon gets. 

“Stop staring and concentrate, fool,” Seongwoo calls out from the opposite end, and some of their teammates snicker and giggle.

Daniel feels his face start to turn red. Right, the performance first and cute, basketball boy later. Daniel gulps as he feels the butterflies make their appearance in his stomach again.

 

 

 

The first time Seongwoo had suggested for Daniel to audition for the cheerleading team, Daniel had laughed in his face and joked if Seongwoo just wanted to see him in a mini skirt. He had earned himself a kick on the butt back then.

“Get out of your close-minded world and open your eyes,” Seongwoo had reprimanded him back then. “Cheerleading isn’t about miniskirts and pom poms anymore. Boys can do cheerleading too.”

And so, Seongwoo had dragged him to the audition as a punishment where Daniel was embarrassed in front of everyone. Before, he had thought of cheerleading as girls in tight skirts trying their best to impress. Daniel was the only one not laughing at the end of the audition when he couldn’t follow the intense choreography they had been given fifteen minutes to memorise. 

While some girls (and guys!) performed the choreography in front of the judges without any problems, Daniel struggled to distinguish his right leg from his left. 

“It’s not looking too good for you, Daniel,” Jonghyun, back then the judge and now one of Daniel’s best friends had said when he completed his audition.

“Do you have any other skills you want to show us?” Jonghyun asked when he saw how dejected Daniel looked. 

Daniel wanted to dig a hole for himself to hide in back then. Seongwoo looked concerned for him from the side. Not wanting to let his embarrassment get the better of him, Daniel decided that he wanted to be good at cheerleading, no matter what it took.

“I can b-boy,” Daniel offered, which invited some gasps and mummers from the people watching.

“Could you show us some moves then?” Jonghyun suggested and Daniel nodded enthusiastically. Finally – he could show off something he was good at. 

Much to Daniel’s delight, Jonghyun had told him on the spot that he could come in for training the next week. Back then, he had doubted Jonghyun’s decision, he was sure he would have been asked to join the dance club instead. The cheerleading club welcomed Daniel, despite him being a complete newbie at cheerleading. 

Jiwoo was one of Daniel’s strongest pillar of support the past two years. They had been partners since the very start, and she had stayed back after practice many times just to make sure Daniel had the harder moves perfected.

“I just don’t want you do drop me on the day itself,” Jiwoo said, but Daniel knew outside her cold exterior, she wanted to help Daniel improve.

 

 

 

The music starts to play, bringing Daniel back to reality. Breezing through the first few moves, Daniel shares a smile with Jiwoo. Then, comes the complicated part where Jiwoo stands on his shoulders.

“Don’t be nervous and believe in yourself,” Jiwoo always told him.

Daniel puts on his bravest front, and does the move perfectly, earning them a loud applause from the audience. Jiwoo steps down from his shoulders and flashes Daniel an assuring smile, which boosts his confidence for his solo stage. 

Out the corner of his eye, Daniel sees Jonghyun blow a kiss towards the one of the opposing team’s player, sending him into a fit of giggles. Daniel curses, and wishes he had the confidence to do the same. He sees Jihoon look disgusted with his teammate, bringing a smile to his lips.

However, Daniel’s stomach tightens as his solo stage nears. How Jonghyun had managed to fit b-boying into a cheerleading segment, Daniel would never know. 

Surprisingly, Jihoon’s eyes are on Daniel when he starts to do his b-boy moves and his teammates hype him up from the side. His heart skips a beat when Jihoon doesn’t tear his gaze away, but finishes his solo stage without any obvious mistakes and even manages to strike his final pose perfectly.

The crowd cheers as they bow and leave the stage. Daniel stays back to help pick up the props they had used. Some of the players from the opposing team jog into the court to start with their final warm ups. 

Jihoon puts on his headband and receives a ball from the boy Jonghyun had blown a kiss to earlier. He shoots, and scores, just like Daniel expects him to. A smile creeps onto his face as he walks closer to Jihoon.

He can see the boy clearly now. He’s smaller than his teammates, but Daniel knows he’s a force to be reckoned with.

Jihoon sees him coming, and nods subtly at him. Daniel can’t help but smile back. 

And he does something completely unexpected.

Daniel doesn’t know whether it was from Jihoon clapping for him (or his team) earlier that gives him a boost of confidence, and he winks at Jihoon.

He quickly leaves the court before he can catch Jihoon’s reaction.

 

 

 

“Did something get into your eye?” Seongwoo asks, clearly disgusted with his actions.

“Fuck. I don’t know, he’s just so cute.” Daniel knows the last person he should spazz to is Seongwoo, but he just wants to get this dizzy feeling out of his head.

“Then ask for his number,” Seongwoo says without batting an eyelid.

“Easy for you to say, Mr Popular,” Daniel sulks as he takes a seat beside his friend. 

“I could ask him for you if you’re scared of getting rejected,” Seongwoo suggests.

“No!” Daniel yells a little too loudly at the horrific idea and some of his teammates shoot him weird looks. 

“Don’t make any moves on him,” Daniel whispers to Seongwoo. “Please.”

As well as Daniel thinks he knows Seongwoo, his best friend can be unpredictable sometimes.

“Don’t worry, I won’t go after boys you already have your eyes on,” Seongwoo says.

Daniel wants to protest that he didn’t mean it that way, but the referee blows the whistle and the buzzer sounds to signal the start of the game again.

 

 

 

Jihoon scores the winning goal for his team, and his teammates rush to his side and start lifting him up to celebrate his victory. It takes every inch of Daniel to not cheer for their team as well, he thinks he should know better if he wants to keep his position in his team.

Daniel can’t help but sulk when Jonghyun asks them to pack up. He wants to be Ong Seongwoo for once, confident and thick-skinned and walk up to Jihoon and ask for his number. Daniel glances at their team, still celebrating, and decides it’s his fate to walk away.

“Last chance,” Seongwoo says in a sing-song manner that makes Daniel want to punch him in his face.

They were waiting for Jonghyun, who had disappeared to somewhere else, so they could board the bus back to school together.

“Forget it, if it’s not meant to be it’s not meant to be,” Daniel tries to pretend he’s fine.

Seongwoo sees through his pretence. “You’re going to regret it.”

Daniel doesn’t reply, he knows Seongwoo is right.

“Team! Can I make an announcement?” Jonghyun reappears and gathers the team together. Daniel sighs, all he wants is to go back home and sulk.

“We’ve been invited to go to the after party tonight, so if you’re interested in going, meet me at the entrance of the school at 6pm and we’ll go over together,” Jonghyun says when the whole cheerleading team gathers around him.

“What after party? We lost,” someone says.

“It’s an invite from the other team,” Jonghyun says and waves at the boy he had blown a kiss to from before. The boy waves back, then re-joins his teammates. 

The team scatters as they make their way back to the bus, all talking about whether they were attending the after-party later. Seongwoo elbows Daniel in the ribs when he catches up.

“Some fate, huh?” Seongwoo grins.

Daniel gulps nervously, no excuses left for Seongwoo or himself.

 

 

 

“I look like shit,” Daniel complains as he digs out his entire wardrobe for something decent to wear.

“As your best friend, I am inclined to agree,” Seongwoo says. “But I also know you’re trying to dress up for cute basketball boy; so, from the bottom of my heart, you look fine.”

Daniel stares at himself in the mirror. He was wearing a plain white shirt and black ripped jeans. He was trying to keep it as simple as possible, but somehow it just wasn’t working out today.

“Should I wear a basketball jersey to impress him?” Daniel thinks aloud.

“Don’t even think about it,” Seongwoo says as he throws a pillow at Daniel’s face. “You’re fucked if he asks you who’s your favourite player or what’s your favourite basketball team.”

Daniel sighs dejectedly and plops onto his bed. 

“Michael Jackson from The Lakers?” Daniel groans as he looks at himself in the mirror again. 

“You know what? Maybe I shouldn’t go. This is a bad idea.”

“First of all, it’s Michael Jordan,” Seongwoo corrects. “And he doesn’t play for The Lakers, dipshit.”

Seongwoo stands up and drags Daniel out the door by the ear before he can decide to stay in his room for the rest of the night.

“This isn’t just about you. I want to get some numbers tonight too, and you’re coming with me.”

“Fine. But just know that if he isn’t at the party, I’m leaving.”

 

 

 

Jihoon has been to as many after parties as he has played basketball games. His first was a few years back, when Jisung had to be assured that he would be okay and wouldn’t be fed any drinks or drugged or kidnapped by his other teammates.

Minhyun was the one holding the after party this time, and the entire team was expected to help set up before other people he had invited arrived.

“Drinks are here!” Taehyun announces and he and Sungwoon arrive with boxes in their hands.

“Put them in the kitchen,” Minhyun instructs and the two disappear to the back of the house.

Jisung arrives not long after and pinches Jihoon’s cheeks before going to say hi to Minhyun. Jihoon doesn’t mean to eavesdrop, but his attention can’t help but drift somewhere else when he’s winning Guanlin in Mario Kart (by a long mile).

“I invited him,” Minhyun says when Jisung enters the kitchen.

“Who?” Jisung replies, curious.

“The cute boy from the cheerleading team. His name is Jonghyun,” Minhyun says, and Jihoon knows he’s smiling even though he can’t see him.

“You did not!” Jisung gasps. “You move fast to get what you want, don’t you?”

Minhyun doesn’t argue. “I invited his entire team too. I’m not sure how many of them are coming, though.”

“Holy shit. I can’t believe you,” Jisung muses as he helps Minhyun arrange the cups.

“It’s time for you to meet new people too, hyung,” Minhyun says.

At this point, Jihoon stops listening as he remembers the dirty blonde boy who winked at him from before. His heart skips another beat as he recalls the scene. If Minhyun had invited the whole team, that boy was going to be here too, right? Jihoon was suddenly aware of the way he was dressed. All he was wearing was an oversized striped shirt and blue jeans he had found at the bottom of his drawer.

“Hah! I won!” Guanlin screams, shaking Jihoon out of his daydream. His eyes focus on the winning scree, Guanlin had overtook him while he was thinking of stupid, blonde boy.

“I’m not playing anymore,” Jihoon says and leaves Guanlin to play solo.

 

 

 

Jihoon can’t help but look out for the familiar dirty blonde whenever someone knocks on the door and Minhyun invites them in. 

His heart nearly jumps out of his chest when Minhyun opens the door and hugs the boy from earlier. The boy, now Jihoon remembering as Jonghyun, strolls into the living room with his team behind him. Jihoon tries to avert his eyes, but tries to spot the dirty blonde boy behind Jonghyun.

The cheerleading team takes up the entire living room, and some people come up to Jihoon and congratulate him for his win.

“You play really well,” some guy compliments Jihoon.

“Thank you,” Jihoon replies humbly.

The crowd makes Jihoon feel a little suffocated and he retreats to the kitchen area, where Taehyun and Sungwoon are handing out drinks to the guests.

“None for you,” Sungwoon says when he spots Jihoon. 

“Yeah, we don’t want Jisung coming for our heads,” Taehyun smiles apologetically.

Jihoon doesn’t have the energy to argue that firstly, he doesn’t like drinking. Second, he had turned legal almost two years ago.

Jihoon decides to grab a cup of what looks like apple juice to him and sits at the chairs near the counter outside the kitchen. He spots Minhyun already chatting with Jonghyun, and Jisung entertaining a group of cheerleaders.

Jihoon feels a tap on his shoulder, and chokes on his apple juice when he sees a familiar dirty blonde staring at him in his face.

Jihoon doesn’t stop coughing, and the boy has to pat his back for him.

“I’m sorry, did I scare you?” the boy finally apologises when Jihoon stops coughing. Jihoon is sure he is red in the face, and wants more than anything to escape.

“I’m fine,” he assures.

“You drink?” the boy points to the cup in Jihoon’s hand.

“No, I’m not allowed to,” Jihoon admits. “It’s apple juice.”

The boy laughs, and Jihoon notices he has a really pretty laugh. His eyes also crease to form a single line when he laughs.

“My name is Daniel,” the boy, now Daniel introduces himself and offers his hand to Jihoon.

Jihoon takes his hand and shakes it. “I’m Jihoon.”

“I know,” Daniel nods. “Number 12 on the court, Park Jihoon.”

Jihoon feels himself blush when Daniel says his name. He touches the nape of his neck, a habit he has when he’s embarrassed and doesn’t know what to say.

The two boys sit in silence for a while, neither knowing what to say to the other.

“Why the number twelve?” Daniel questions. 

“Guess,” Jihoon challenges.

“Because you’re twelve years old?” Daniel teases, and even though Jihoon has heard this joke multiple times, he feels his cheeks flush at Daniel’s playful tone.

“I started playing basketball when I was twelve,” Jihoon says after finally gathers his emotions together to explain to Daniel.

Daniel nods and the awkward silence fills the air between the two again. Jihoon takes another gulp of his apple juice, then winces when he realises how bitter it is. What did Minhyun put in this apple juice to make it taste so bad?

“Why did you wink at me?” Jihoon finally asks, and Daniel’s ears are tinted red at the memory.

“Uh…” Daniel sputters, not knowing how to reply. He was probably not expecting Jihoon to be so straightforward. “I thought you were cute, that’s why.”

And Jihoon was not expecting such an honest answer. He’s heard that he’s been cute from his teammates and some admirers or fans, but none of those times has made his heart beat as fast as this time.

“Okay,” Jihoon replies, not knowing what to say. He cursed internally at his super un-interesting answer. Way to impress cute boy.

“Are these real?” Daniel asks, suddenly moving in closer to Jihoon and touching the rim of his glasses.

Flustered at their sudden proximity, Jihoon instinctively moves back.

“Yeah,” Jihoon manages to say. “I wear contacts on the court. I actually need these to see.”

Daniel suddenly reaches out his hand to ruffle Jihoon’s hair. “I think it’s really cute.”

Sungwoon walks past them at that moment, and narrows his eyes at Jihoon when he sees Daniel’s hand in his hair. Jihoon coughs awkwardly, and looks somewhere else.

“I’m going to get to the point. I think you’re really cute, and I want to get to know you better,” Daniel suddenly takes Jihoon’s hand in his. Daniel’s hand is warm, and Jihoon doesn’t want him to let go.

“If it’s not too much to ask, can I have your number?” 

Jihoon notices that Daniel blushes when he asks. Biting down on his lower lip, Jihoon doesn’t hesitate to reply.

“Of course.”

Daniel’s eyes light up when Jihoon gives him his answer, and quickly fishes out his phone from his pocket and hands it to Jihoon for him to input his number. Jihoon’s hands tremble as he types his number in, he can’t believe that this is happening to him.

Daniel does a small victory dance when Jihoon hands him back his phone, which makes Jihoon smile. 

“Do you want to take a breather outside?” Daniel points towards the door.

“Sure.”

Jihoon tries to sneak past Minhyun, who is standing guard at the door, but gets caught anyway.

“Where are you going?” Minhyun grabs Jihoon’s arm before he can leave. “And who is this? And why is his hand around your waist?” 

Fortunately, Jonghyun stops Minhyun before he can go in to full “Mom” mode on Jihoon and explains that Daniel is on his cheerleading team, which Minhyun himself had invited.

“Unfortunately,” Minhyun mumbles.

Daniel doesn’t even falter when Minhyun loses his shit, and doesn’t remove his arm from around Jihoon’s waist either, which makes Jihoon feel like his heart is going to jump out of his chest anytime.

“We’re just going to talk outside,” Jihoon explains, and turns the knob on the door.

“That better be the case,” Minhyun warns. Jihoon ushers Daniel out the door before Minhyun can say anything else.

Minhyun doesn’t let Jihoon off the hook and manages to call out to Daniel one last time before Jihoon shuts the door behind him.

“And keep your hands off Jihoon or I’ll come after your family, young man! I’ll come after your dog too! And no, Jonghyun. I’m not going to let the little shit off just because he’s your teammate.”

There are a few people outside just standing around and talking, but none of them notice Jihoon or Daniel who are practically all over each other. Jihoon doesn’t know how Daniel does it, but half an hour into meeting him he’s convinced he has a crush on his rival school’s cheerleader.

“They seem really protective of you,” Daniel comments, still playing with Jihoon’s hair.

Jihoon giggles, then stops cold. Did he just giggle like a five-year-old? Something was seriously wrong with him. He thinks back and realises the “apple juice” he grabbed off the counter must have been a cup of beer someone had left there.

Jihoon doesn’t know if he should be disgusted if he’s just drank someone else’s drink or the fact that he consumed an entire cup of alcohol.

He manages to steady himself against Daniel’s chest. One cup of alcohol wasn’t going to knock him out, Jihoon thinks.

“You are attempting to date the team’s most precious star player, after all,” Jihoon teases.

“Who said I wanted to date you?” Daniel responds.

“You said I was cute, asked for my number and said you wanted to know me better. You’re playing with my hair now as you hold me in your arms,” Jihoon recounts. 

Daniel doesn’t even try to argue, and Jihoon knows he’s hit the bullseye. 

“I thought you were only smart in the court. It turns out you’re pretty smart off the court, too,” Daniel comments, which makes Jihoon’s heart do backflips.

Jihoon giggles again, and he wants to slap himself for that. What happened to being cool, cold-hearted and mysterious star basketball player of To Be One College? Jihoon hates how he’s literally melting into Daniel’s arms and listening to Daniel very obviously flirting with him when the usual him only knows basketball and how to roast his teammates without them knowing they’re being roasted.

“You’re being pretty obvious about it, I’m just letting you know,” Jihoon replies.

“Am I being obvious about wanting to kiss you really bad now too?” Daniel asks, genuinely curious.

“Maybe,” Jihoon says in a sing-song manner.

They were now a little farther away from Minhyun’s house, although Jihoon could still hear the loud music blaring behind him and Daniel.

“Can I kiss you?” Daniel gathers his courage to ask.

“Just make sure none of my teammates see us,” Jihoon says, knowing World War 3 would take place if any of them saw him right now.

Daniel doesn’t reply for a moment, and Jihoon is suddenly afraid he’s scared Daniel off by he himself being terrified of his teammates finding out that he was fooling around with some cheerleader from their rival school.

“Fuck that,” Daniel says before he cups Jihoon’s face in his hands and kisses him. 

 

 

 

Three hours and five more makeout sessions with Daniel later, Jihoon finds himself in Minhyun’s room, with all his teammates staring at him like he’d just killed someone and ate him for dinner. 

Jihoon’s brain, still reeling in from the intense kissing and many other things with Daniel, struggles to register why he’s back in Minhyun’s room.

“Let me get something fucking straight here,” Minhyun finally starts to say something.

“You’re not?” Sungwoon offers unhelpfully.

“You!” Minhyun ignores Sungwoon and points accusingly at Jihoon. “Went to fucking makeout with one of Jonghyun’s cheerleaders after I specifically told him to keep his hands off you?”

Jihoon opens his mouth to explain, only to be cut off by Jisung.

“Mind your fucking language,” Jisung snaps at Minhyun, and Jihoon doesn’t even bother to let Jisung know how ironic that sounds.

Jisung glances at Jihoon, and he can’t help but smile giddily at the thought of seeing Daniel again.

“Where’s the little fucker? I’m going to kill him now,” Jisung announces and tries to walk out the door with Guanlin and Jinyoung trying to hold him back.

“What did he do to you?” Jisung, unable to overpower both Guanlin and Jinyoung, starts to shake Jihoon by the shoulder.

“Nothing,” Jihoon quickly protests. Then, after looking at Minhyun glaring at him, says, “Okay, we kissed. That’s all, I swear.”

Sungwoon and Taehyun gasp simultaneously at Jihoon’s confession. Guanlin and Jinyoung cover each other’s ears as they brace for the outburst of rage from either Minhyun or Jisung. Minhyun buries his face in his hands and Jisung lets his jaw drop.

“Were you even thinking?” Jisung questions.

To be honest, not really. Jihoon wanted to answer. He was really only thinking about how he wanted to kiss Daniel back, and how good it felt when Daniel held him in his arms.

“He’s nice, I promise,” Jihoon sighs.

As if on cue, Jihoon’s phone lights up and the only thing he sees is that it’s from Daniel before Jisung snatches it away. 

Jisung’s jaw muscles clench as he reads the message and he passes the phone to Minhyun, who looks like he’s ready to fight a shark when he hands Jihoon back his phone.

**From: Daniel**

**When can I see you again? I already miss you.**

Jihoon blushes at the unexpected sweet message from Daniel. 

“You can’t see him, I won’t allow it,” Jisung concludes as he crosses his arms.

“Yeah, don’t you even think of going out with him. You have training” Minhyun adds. 

Jihoon doesn’t have the heart to them that friends can’t ground each other. He nods as he replies Daniel, knowing that agreeing with his teammates was the only way for them to leave him alone.

 

 

 

Training keeps Jihoon busier than he thought he would be. Although he and Daniel exchange messages every day, Jihoon can’t find any free time to sneak out and meet Daniel.

The next opportunity comes only three weeks later, where Jihoon’s coach had asked him to practice his free throws alone at night. By then, Jihoon’s teammates had long forgotten about the whole Daniel fiasco.

Jihoon texts Daniel to meet outside the sports hall at 11pm, and is surprised when Daniel agrees almost immediately. His coach leaves at 10pm, and Jihoon focuses on practice for a while before he goes to shower and leaves early to see Daniel.

Daniel was already waiting at their agreed place to meet when Jihoon leaves the sports hall. He’s a mess, his hair is half dry, and he’d forgotten to bring a clean shirt out and was left with no choice but to re-wear his jersey.

Daniel grins when he sees Jihoon walking towards him.

“My boyfriend got hotter the three weeks I haven’t seen him,” Daniel says as Jihoon approaches him.

“I’m not your boyfriend,” Jihoon argues, but lets Daniel hold his hand anyway.

“Sure,” Daniel nods. “I’ve missed you.”

“For real though,” Jihoon says as he lets Daniel hug him. “We have to tell my teammates if we’re dating. They’ll kill me if they know I sneaked out of practice to meet you.”

Daniel buries his head into Jihoon’s neck. “So we’re dating?”

Jihoon smiles. “Okay, you got me there.”

They enjoy each other’s company around before Jihoon finally sighs and breaks away, “You can just tell me now, if you’re not serious about me. I’ve had many boys give up on me because of my teammates, so I won’t get hurt if you choose to walk away now.”

Daniel lifts his head from Jihoon’s shoulder to look at him.

“Jihoon…” he stutters, not knowing how to reply.

Jihoon bites on his lip. “They are important to me, they’re my family. No matter how overprotective they can be, it’s because they care for me.”

He avoids looking at Daniel in the eye. “If we’re not going to be serious, you can walk away now. No hard feelings. I promise.”

Jihoon half expects Daniel to let go of him and walk away, and the other half of him doesn’t want to let Daniel go just like this. But he knows it’s never going to work out if he has to lie to his friends just to be with Daniel.

“Let’s go and tell them now,” Daniel grabs Jihoon’s hand and stands up.

“Now?” Jihoon asks, shocked.

“I want to be with you, more than anything,” Daniel says.

“You barely know me,” Jihoon argues.

“And I already know how much I’m going to like you,” Daniel says and leads Jihoon into his school before he can say anything else.

 

 

 

Sungwoon spots Jihoon first, and shouts for his friends. Jisung appears, together with a fuming Minhyun and the rest trailing behind them.

Daniel doesn’t let go of Jihoon’s hand.

“I knew you would sneak away to meet him!” Jisung yells at Jihoon.

“Let me explain,” Jihoon defends and is grateful for Guanlin and Jinyoung who manage to hold Minhyun and Jisung back from killing Daniel.

“I’m sorry, I should have come to you earlier. I’m serious about Jihoon,” Daniel pulls Jihoon closer to him.

Jihoon is convinced Minhyun is literally turning red from anger when those words escape Daniel’s mouth.

 

 

Five hours and persuading Minhyun and Jisung to drink a few cans of beer each later, they are finally sane enough to sit in the same room with Daniel without launching for his neck.

“I’m just – I don’t want our baby to get hurt,” Jisung is crying now, and Jihoon thinks he would be crying too if he consumed five cans of beer alone.

“I’ll take care of him, I really will,” Daniel assures for the nth time that night.

“I’ll come for your firstborn if you ever make him cry,” Minhyun is surprisingly calm, Jihoon silently thanks the alcohol. 

Daniel swallows nervously and Jihoon has to assure him that Minhyun issues death threats all the time, it’s just something he has to live with.

“So it’s a yes?” Jihoon finally asks the question he’s been waiting to ask the entire night. It’s 4 in the morning, and he knows Daniel has to get back to school for his morning classes.

“Heed our warnings,” Jisung says through his sobs. “If there’s any break up it’s going to be Jihoon dumping you and not the other way around.”

Jihoon thinks this is the best he can get out of his teammates today. Daniel says goodbye to his friends and Jihoon ushers him out the door before they can change their mind about Daniel.

“Are you finally going to be my boyfriend now?” Daniel says as Jihoon walks him out of his school.

“Yeah, congrats on being the first successful boyfriend of the future Michael Jordan,” Jihoon smiles as Daniel pulls him closer.

“You’re so full of yourself,” is the only thing Daniel says before he kisses Jihoon on the lips. He only pauses to take a breath.

“And I love it.”

 

 

 

It takes Jihoon one hour to convince Jisung that Daniel is not a serial killer and they’re just going for a harmless date at the nearby café. It takes him another half an hour to convince Minhyun that there is absolutely no need for him to walk Jihoon out of the school compounds.

By the time Jihoon escapes the clutches of his evil step-parents (see also: Jisung and Minhyun), he spots Daniel leaning against a wall outside the gates. His heart does the stupid flip thing again and he tries to ignore them as Daniel spots him and waves to him.

“Finally escaped?” Daniel greets him with a kiss on his cheek and doesn’t hesitate to hold Jihoon’s hand.

“I’m sorry I made you wait. I had to convince them you weren’t here to kill me,” Jihoon smiles at Daniel, who looks extra good today.

“How do you know I’m not?” Daniel smirks, and Jihoon feels his knees go weak. 

Jihoon focuses on the path ahead. “I’d be too cute for you to kill anyway.”

“How did you know that?” Daniel lets the sweet talk roll of his mouth naturally again. 

“You’ve told me I’m cute, like, a gazillion times,” Jihoon recounts. 

“I mean it, though,” Daniel says as he puts his hand into the back pocket of Jihoon’s jeans. Jihoon yelps at the unexpected physical contact. His face turns hot as he looks back to make sure none of his teammates are following him. Minhyun would make sure that Daniel was to never step within a kilometre of Jihoon if he could see them now.

“Do you not like it?” Daniel asks, face ridden with worry at Jihoon’s obvious discomfort.

“It’s not that,” Jihoon protests. “I like it.”

He loves the way Daniel holds his hand in public, Jihoon thinks he could never love anything more. Now, with Daniel’s hand in his back pocket, Jihoon is starting to doubt himself. In conclusion, he loves the way Daniel treated him in public. It makes Jihoon feel like Daniel was telling anyone looking that Jihoon was his, and his only.

“Fuck. You’re so cute when you’re not in the court,” Daniel gushes.

“You’re right. I would destroy you if you did this to me anywhere near the court,” Jihoon admits.

He and Daniel enter the café, where some girls recognise Jihoon and wave in his direction. Jihoon smiles his ever-humble smile back. He starts to think that going on a date near school is going to be a bad idea.

“My boyfriend is famous,” Daniel says when they find a table in a secluded corner.

“I’m not,” Jihoon protests and turns back to make sure that no one is watching him – no one that could spy on them and report to Minhyun or Jisung.

“My eyes are here, where are you looking?” Daniel grabs Jihoon’s hand and his heart rate starts to increase again.

Daniel looks absolutely breath-taking today. His hair colour had faded since the first time Jihoon had seen him, and Jihoon can see he’s made the effort to style his hair today. His hands tremble when his eyes trail down to the white button up that Daniel is wearing. He sees Daniel’s mouth moving, but doesn’t manage to catch the words that come out of it.

“What did you say?” Jihoon asks, snapping out of his daydream.

“I just said I love you for the first time and you reply with ‘What did you say?’” Daniel sounds dejected, and he looks like a sad puppy that Jihoon wants to give all his love to.

“Oh,” Jihoon says when he realises.

“I love you too,” Jihoon confesses. And Daniel smiles again.

 

 

 

“You’re such a lucky bitch to be dating To Be One’s star player, he’s so hot,” Seongwoo groans next to Daniel, who is busy concentrating on the game.

Jihoon was playing for the finals, and had invited Daniel to watch him. Needless to say, Daniel agreed immediately.

“Anything to see you in your jersey again,” Daniel had said, earning him a forehead flick.

Daniel wasn’t lying when he had said that, he felt his knees go weak whenever he saw Jihoon in the court. It was like he was a different person whenever he had his head in the game. Out of the court, he was a clingy and affectionate boy. Whenever the ball was in his hands, he would transform into a passionate and skilful player.

Jihoon scores again for his team, and Daniel cheers loudly for him. Jihoon spots Daniel in the crowd, and sends a flying kiss his way.

“I agree,” Jonghyun says. “You’ve used up your entire lifetime’s worth of luck. Or nine lifetimes, honestly.”

Daniel doesn’t remember inviting Seongwoo or Jonghyun along, they had pestered him to bring them along. Daniel had to beg Jihoon to give him another two tickets.

“Right, how’s things with you and Minhyun?” Daniel asks Jonghyun, who is ever so obviously staring at Jihoon’s teammate.

Jonghyun doesn’t look at Daniel when he replies. “He’s still not talking to me because he thinks I’m the reason you and Jihoon ended up together.”

Technically, Minhyun wasn’t wrong.

“Oh fuck,” Daniel curses. “I’m sorry.”

Daniel turns his eyes to the court again, and Jisung spots him from the bench area. He points at Daniel with a murderous look in his eyes and although Daniel wants to pee his pants right there and then, he manages to wave back to Jisung.

Kill them with kindness, Daniel thinks to himself.

 

 

 

Daniel climbs over the barricades when Jihoon scores the winning goal to wrap him in his arms. He’s not sure how he beat Jihoon’s teammates to Jihoon himself, and chooses to ignore Jisung and Minhyun’s glares anyway.

“I’m sweaty,” Jihoon whines.

“I don’t care,” Daniel says.

Cameras flash as all the reporters struggle to get a shot of the star player that had just won the finals for his school.

“Now the whole world is going to know you’re my boyfriend,” Jihoon says as he finally breaks away from Daniel’s tight grip.

“Good,” Daniel replies as he smiles for the camera.

Jihoon waves to the cameras and strikes a pose with the trophy.

“Do you think anyone would mind if I kissed you right now?” Daniel whispers into Jihoon’s ear.

Jihoon only smiles at Daniel slyly.

“Fuck that,” Jihoon says. 

And he kisses Daniel in front of the entire world.

**Author's Note:**

> my fingers are itching to write a part 2... so let me know if you want it. ;)
> 
>  
> 
> every kudos, bookmark and comment is appreciated and stored in a special place in my heart.


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